


New Partnerships

by lasairfhiona



Category: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-06
Updated: 2011-10-06
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/261401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on "Deadliest Game" but only the barest of references to…<br/>Mucho thanks to my co-worker Aubree for her help with some phrasing I was having some trouble with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Partnerships

Lee laid on his back, eyes on the sky above him, trying to ignore the shouting. He didn't know why he'd accepted the invitation to come to the beach house with Chip and the Admiral. No matter how wonderful the warm sun had felt beating down on his body chasing the chill he still felt in his soul away or how the clear the sky was tonight allowing him to see the constellations in their full glory. He'd known his friends needed the time to work things out between them even if they gave the appearance of having no worries, until they got here that is. Sharkey and Ski both had independently come to him with tales of what had happened while he'd been stuck in Deep Center with the President. He'd heard about the alarm the Admiral wore, and Sharkey had made sure to tell him how he'd been worried about the Exec when he'd found him and found the alarm had gone off. The crew might not know about the interpersonal relationships of their officers but they had eyes and they knew how the others took it when one or more of them went missing and could possibly be dead.

He hated hearing them fight when they should be in bed loving each other. Celebrating the fact the Admiral was alive and well. Even though he knew it was an age-old argument between them. Actually between the three of them. They all worried about the others and often that concern lead to heated conversations about safety. He also know they would continue to risk their lives for each other and the crew. It was who they were and while they worried about each other there was nothing that could be done to change the fiber of who they were. Not that he would want them to change, if they did, they wouldn’t be the men he respected.

He'd only come with them, with the hope that while they 'reconnected' he'd be able to work through his own feelings about their last mission. He'd had to face the fact he could die in many missions before. But this time it was different. This time he had to face never seeing the two men he recently admitted he loved. The same two men who had no idea of his feelings. He'd been hiding his feelings from himself longer than he'd been hiding them from Chip and the Admiral. He'd been prepared to go to his death with his secret, telling them as he was about to die was not something he wanted to burden either of them with. Telling them now was not on his agenda either.

He raked his hand through the sand letting handfuls slip through his fingers as he thought about his friends. He and Chip met plebe year at Annapolis and the experience sealed their friendship. Chip was his closest friend and has been for all of his adult life. The hero-worship he had for the Admiral while at Annapolis turned to respect an admiration on Nautilus then the unexpected friendship formed when he'd come aboard Seaview turned to more as their friendship deepened. It was a mission that almost claimed Chip’s life that made Lee admit it wasn’t just his friendship with the Admiral that had deepened into more intimate feelings but that his feelings for Chip had as well.

He couldn't lay there any longer, pretending to stargaze while they argued. Especially when the occasional words he heard in raised voices were no longer about concern for safety. Standing, Lee picked up his sandles and brushed the sand from the seat of his shorts before heading to the cottage.

There were so wrapped up in their argument they never heard him open the screen door. In fact, they never noticed his presence until he slammed the wood framed door and hollered, "Stop it!"

"Lee!" Chip exclaimed, having the good graces to look embarrassed.

"Just stop arguing," Lee said almost desperately.

"It’s nothing you need to worry about," Harry added, not wanting to involve Lee in their debate.

"It is when I can hear you fighting from the beach. It is when my closest friends are at loggerheads and shouldn’t be. It is when I can't stand to hear the two men I love most fighting…" Lee stopped suddenly when he realized what he'd revealed. Turning on his heel, he bolted out the door before either of them could respond. He never meant to let his feelings be known. They were something for him and him alone. The last thing he wanted to do was to come between Chip and the Admiral. He'd been allowed into their private life and he knew how much they loved one another.

He stood at the waters edge, the waves lapping gently at his still bare feet, as he cursed himself. He'd been content to be a part of their lives as a friend, at least he'd had that. But now. He stood the possibility of losing that with his accidental revelation.

"Lee?" Chip inquired, when he finally caught up.

"Go back to the Admiral," Lee instructed, not bothering to turn around to look at the blonde man next to him.

"Not until you explain."

"There is nothing to explain. I misspoke."

"I don’t believe you," Chip said, taking Lee's arm and turning him. "Harry and I want to talk to you."

"Why? So you can tell me how revolted you are by what I said?" Lee retorted, disgusted with himself, he took it out on his best friend.

"Do you have that little faith in us Lee?" Harry asked gently, having finally caught up with them after sending Chip on ahead.

"No sir, I have complete faith in you. But, this is different. This is personal," Lee answered only glancing at Chip and the Admiral before turning away. This was his worst nightmare come to fruition and now he was faced with it he didn't know what to do or say. Instinct told him to trust Chip and the Admiral. To trust how they would react to his revelation. But part of him was saying to run far and fast so he wouldn't have to face their disappointment and the loss of their friendships.

"Lee, come back with us. Talk to us," Harry urged softly. The last thing he wanted to do was spook Lee and have to chase the taller, leaner man down the beach again. He might be fit but he wasn't 'that' fit.

Lee hesitated then nodded. He fought the flight instinct and followed them back to the cottage. They were with in steps of entering when Lee stopped. "No. Let's sit outside." He didn't want to go inside. He needed to be someplace without walls. He already felt his world was closing in on him at the moment.

The porch had several wooden Adirondack chairs situated to look out over the water so Harry took one and turned it to face the other two. Claiming that chair for himself, he indicated to Lee and Chip to take the other two facing him. When everyone was seated, Harry looked directly at Lee and asked bluntly, "Did you mean it when you said you loved us?"

Lee thought about playing dumb, but neither man around him would let him get away with it. There was no way for him to *not* answer that question. "Yes," he said so quietly that Chip, who sat next to him, let alone Harry barely heard his answer.

"Good!" Harry declared when he saw Chip’s smile and nod. He couldn’t help but smile when Lee looked up at him in surprise. It was obviously not the reaction his captain was expecting.

"Sir? I… I don't understand." Lee stuttered in confusion.

"Lee," Chip said reaching over to take Lee's hand. "Harry and I have had a problem for a while now. One that we haven't been able to resolve without you, until maybe now, that is."

Lee looked at his hand encased in Chip's and felt a shiver run through him. "I still don't understand."

"Chip and I have feelings for you," Harry stated bluntly. "When you came aboard Seaview, you shook us up. It wasn't until Chip and I had a disagreement that we realized, independent of our feelings for each other, that we were also in love with you."

Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing. The Admiral was telling him they loved him. Standing, he went to the rail and looked out at the water. Hoping for the calm that watching the surf always gave him. Not finding it, he took a deep breath and turned back around to look at them, leaning on the railing. "I don't know what to say. I don't know what I'm supposed to say.” If he’d been confused before, he was even more so now.

Chip got up and stood next to Lee in the same position. "Does the idea of joining our relationship concern you?"

"Wait." Lee shook his head. "First you tell me you care for me and then you have me joining you."

"Lee we love you," Harry stated.

"We'd like you to become part of our relationship," Chip finished.

"This is all happening so fast. I need time to think," Lee said. He was shell-shocked by what had just happened and needed to digest it.

"Sleep on it. And we can talk when you're ready," Harry said as he stood. He reached out and gripped Lee's shoulder before taking Chip's hand and pulling his lover into the house. Lee needed space and he would give it to him, especially if it brought Lee to them in the end.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Harry laid in Chips arms, his head resting on the blonde’s chest. “What do you think he’ll do?” he asked as Chip lazily caressed his arm.

“I wish I knew,” Chip answered with a sigh. He knew Lee. He could usually predict Lee’s actions but this time he was at a loss. Lee was closed to him and he had no idea what his friend would do.

“He hasn’t gone to bed yet,” Harry commented as they listened to the soft footfall as Lee paced back and forth on the deck. “I wonder if I should go talk to him?”

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Lee paced the length of the deck, back and forth. The rhythmic fall of his steps did nothing to help him put order to his thoughts.

They loved him. Chip and the Admiral loved him. Not just the way you love your friend. They loved him like you’d love a lover. They wanted him to join them. Part of him wanted to know how long they had loved him. The irony of the all having secret feeling was not lost on him.

He was having his wildest fantasy handed to him on a silver platter and he didn’t know what to do to. There was nothing he wanted more than to grab it with both hands and not look back. Fear still held him back. Fear that he could lose the two best friends he had. Fear of the relationship itself. His experience with men was limited to nameless encounters to fulfill a need. Never anything lasting. Never anything that could even remotely be called a relationship.

No closer to making any kind of decision or even understanding his chaotic emotions, he stopped halfway on the path he’d been traveling. Resting his hands on the rail, he leaned and looked out to the ocean. The moon was nearly full and cut a shining path through the dark water. If only following that glimmering path would lead him to an answer.

Ignoring the squeak of the hinges of the screen door, he continued to watch the rippling path of moonlight. He wasn’t even remotely curious as which one of them was coming out to check up on him. Although he could guess who it was.

“Lee?”

His guess would have been right. He couldn’t help but wonder though, if he’d come on his own or if the Admiral had sent him. “Chip,” he said turning around to look at his friend as he leaned against the railing.

“Are you okay?” the blonde asked standing next to Lee.

"I don't know," Lee admitted, shaking his head. "I don't know what to think about all this."

"Do you love us?" Chip asked bluntly. He believed in simplifying things and this needed to be simplified before Lee got the chance to over analyze everything.

"Yes, I do," Lee answered quietly, revealing what he'd kept secret for so long.

"How long?" Chip was curious as to how long Lee had been hiding his feelings from them and how long he'd been blind to what his friend was feeling.

"I don't know. It just kind of snuck up on me and one day I knew what I was feeling for you and the Admiral was love." He didn't know how he could explain it to Chip when he couldn't pinpoint exactly when his feelings changed and he knew he loved them.

"You never hinted at it."

"Why should I? You and the Admiral were together. How could I say anything?" How could I do something to jeopardize you relationship? it was just easier to keep it to myself and be your friend. I was content that way," Lee explained only occasionally glancing at Chip so he wouldn't give away how much being with them hurt at times.

The blonde didn't know what to say. Lee had made valid points so instead he pointed out the one thing that was glaringly obvious as he listened to his friend. "But you weren't happy."

"I was happy enough," Lee answered with a shrug, for the most part it was true and only at times did he feel the pang of loneliness.

"We're giving you a chance to have what you want. A chance to be really happy," Chip reminded him.

"I know…"

"But…" Chip prompted, knowing that there was more Lee was going to say. They had been friends far too long for him not to know when Lee had something on his mind.

"But I'm afraid, alright," Lee said harshly.

"Why?" Chip knew he was now getting to the heart of why Lee was bulking.

Lee pounded the rail with his fist and pushed away to walk the length of the deck. He now had to admit to his best friend, the man he loved, his biggest fear about what he and the Admiral were offering. Stopping when he was across from Chip, he turned to the blonde and asked," "What happens if it doesn't work out? I lose everything."

Lee startled when a voice from behind his asked," When did you become so pessimistic?" Turning to face the Admiral, noticing his boss in a robe with pajama bottoms and his sleep ruffled hair. "I prefer to think of it as being cautious and I become very careful when my heart friends and job get put on the line," he answered.

"Give us a chance, Lee," Harry said as Chip came up behind the brunette and wrapped his arms' around Lee's chest, giving him a light kiss on the neck.

"Yes," Lee sighed relaxing in Chip's embrace. Giving in, he couldn't fight them and his feelings.

"Good. Good," Harry said joining the two younger men in their embrace.

"Let's go back to bed where we can hold each other properly," Chip suggested planting another kiss on Lee's neck as he ran a hand down Harry's back.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Several hours later, Lee laid in the arms of his lovers and watched as the colours streak the sky with the rising sun. His lovers. Chip and the Admiral, err…, Harry. He had to remember to call his Harry now. He still had a hard time believing this was all real. Even with his head resting on Harry's chest and his fingers tangled in the ginger curls on Harry's chest. Even with Chip's lean body spooned up behind him.

This was better then any fantasy he could have had. They'd gone to bed dressed in pajama bottoms and shared gentle kisses and loving touches. They showed him their love for each other as they showed him their love for him. They told him they would wait until to make love to him/with him until he was ready. They'd know he was overwhelmed by everything that had happened that evening.

This morning, however, was another matter. He couldn't deny his erection was due to the body he was curled against or the one curled behind him. He couldn't deny the feel of Chip's erection nestled against his backside didn't turn him on. He'd wait, enjoying this moment of peace in their arms, until they woke up and then he planned on finalizing this new partnership of theirs. He still had his fears but he was more confident now than he'd been before. Hen also had a feeling that Harry and Chip would do their best to build his confidence in their relationship.

The End


End file.
